ENTRY OF THE AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD SECTOR IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA INTO WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION: THE EXPERIENCE FROM SLOVENIA AND CROATIA

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has an observer status in World Trade Organisation (WTO) with an expectation to become a member of this organisation under a developing country’s status. BiH has experienced a large deficit in trade in agri-food products. Domestic agriculture and the food sector have experienced diffi culties to cope with the increased competition at international and domestic markets. Under the deteriorating agri-food trade patterns, there are growing political pressures by agricultural interest groups against agricultural and food trade liberalisation. This causes confl ict of interests in a strategy for completion of the negotiation process with WTO. As some countries in the region already successfully completed the entry into WTO (e.g. Croatia) or both the entry into WTO and into EU (e.g. Slovenia), we underline these two country experiences. The paper draws attention to opportunities in this BiH path to WTO on a way to EU membership.